Arabic

What the language does Comments: How English differs and/or Example or description of errors
how the language will interfere with
Category English

Phonology
(the sounds that exist
in the language)

Vowels Arabic has fewer vowels than English. This can interfere with pronunciation and May confuse words like
spelling in English. sheep/ship
bed/bad

Vowels Arabic does have many consonant clusters Vowels will be inserted in English words with split —> spilit
(“spl” is “split” for example). consonant clusters. This is limited to speech.

Consonants There is no ‘th’ sound in Arabic, ‘f’ will often An English speaker will be able to understand [See examples below under “Orthography:
substitute for ‘v’, and ‘b’ and ‘p’ will often an Arabic speaker in speech, but an Arabic Spelling rules”]
stand in for each other. speaker tends to spell word the way the
speaker pronounces them.

Stress Stress is predictable is Arabic (although each English has variable stress. The variability This mainly affects reading aloud.
dialect has its own pattern). For example, even affects words presént (introduce) and
the stress may be on the first syllable every présent (a gift; now).
time.

Orthography [NB: This is the main source of errors.]

Alphabet There is no upper and lower case in the In English, proper nouns begin with capital An Arabic writer may not capitalize the first
Arabic alphabet. letters and the beginning of sentences start letter of a sentence. Or the writer may be
with capital letters. inconsistent with capitalizing proper nouns.

Spelling Arabic has a consonant root system which Arabic speakers may confuse English words beat, bit, bet, bait
means a series of consonants would be the that have the same consonant series but
equivalent to a root word in English. Roots different vowels. These words are ‘b’+vowel+’t’ but are totally
are distinguished by adding vowels which are unrelated in meaning.
not letters in Arabic, but diacritics (little
markings above or below the consonants).

Phonetic based Arabic speakers try to find rules in English phonetic exceptions husbund, biginner
spelling spelling when there are none.
Phonetic based b/p substitutions beoble, hapit
spelling

Phonetic based spell by analogy to another word languidge (cf. knowledge)

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 Phonetic based when English spelling is inconsistent, Arabic high —> hight (rather than height)
spelling speakers tend to create consistency speak —> speach (rather than speech)

False cognates
(words that look
similar in both
languages, but have
different meanings;in
reading and writing
they may think/intend
the meaning of the
original language) Word from the language Meaning of the word English word used

Salaam peace; greeting peace or greeting (interchangeably)

[NB: There are not many false cognates between English and Arabic. There are false idioms, however. For example, “to see the light” in
English means “to begin understanding something”, but in Arabic “to suddenly realize something or to begin having strong religious beliefs.”
They may use idioms that are not quite right.]

Syntax [NB: Sentence level errors tend to be restricted to beginners. Spelling and stylistic (see below) issues affect all levels.]
(parts of speech and
rules)

Verbs (general) Verbs carry information about person, This may affect word order or result in ‘John he works there.’ The ‘he’ would be
number, identifying subject from object unnecessary words in a sentence. encoded on the verb in Arabic.
through various affixes.

Verbs (auxiliary) Arabic does not have the verbs ‘to be,’ These verbs might be omitted or overused in From the possible that I am late. (Intended: I
auxiliary ‘do,’ or modals English sentences. may be late.)

Do I must do that? (Intended: Must I do that?)

Verbs (with There are no phrasal or prepositional verbs In English, there are This can manifest in many ways from using
prepositions/particles) in Arabic phrasal: throw out, bring up, fill out, etc the wrong particle/preposition to using a
prepositional: talk to, help with, go out, etc different verb that may be stylistically or
pragmatically wrong.

Verbs (Tense) Tenses in Arabic only distinguish perfect This can lead to inconsistent or awkward verb ‘The minister arrived (perfect) while he
(completed) and imperfect (not yet usage. carries (imperfect) an important letter from
completed/ongoing) the president’ with the intended meaning of
This can even be seen when trying to ‘The minister arrived carrying an important
incorporate auxiliary ‘do’ letter from the president.’

‘I didn’t went to school.’

Nouns Marking possession with ’s is difficult. A In English, it’s possible to show possession The tendency is to use the ‘of’ construction:
more literal translation into English of Arabic with “the X of the Y” or with ’s. ‘the book of John’ rather than ‘John’s book’
possession would be ‘the X of the Y’.

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 Articles While Arabic does have a marker for There are no hard-and-fast rules about when This makes mastery of English articles quite
indefiniteness (the articles a/an English), it is to use the indefinite article and when to the difficult. The indefinite article may not be
rarely used in either speech or writing. definite article. Generally, English uses used at all. The definite article may be used
Instead, indefiniteness is marked by the indefinite when something is mentioned that improperly.
absence of a definite marker (the article the is not specific or the thing is new to the
in English) conversation. The definite article is used to
mention a specific thing or to refer to
something that has already been mentioned
in a conversation.

Adjectives Adjectives follow the noun in Arabic. An Arabic speaker may use the Arabic word He had a dog brown.
order although this tends to be limited to
beginners.

Style Redundancy, overassertion, and exaggeration is encouraged in the language, in speech, but especially in writing.

In Arabic, directness can lead to misunderstanding even so much as assuming the speaker means the opposite of what is said.

Redundancy is considered eloquent and helps stress the main idea.

Run-on sentences are joined through commas and using conjunctions rather than subjunctions. Other than commas and periods, other
forms of punctuation do not effectively exist.

This correlates with the above point. It is considered eloquent to write this way, and it is done in formal settings.

For example:
‘I was very astonished and a little bit frightened, and when I saw my father and mother a little bit confused, I tried to be courageous, and I
went out to see what was happening’

Arabic essay and paragraph structure is circular and indirect.

English writing style is such that ideas are presented linearly and clearly. This is considered cold and impersonal to Arabic speakers.

Culture Speakers of Arabic generally have pride in their language. They see it as a language of prestige as the language has contributed to the
Western sciences in math, chemistry, geography, philosophy.

They place value on learning English and are generally receptive to the task. However, with fluid volatility in Arabic speaking countries,
students from one country may feel differently than students from another. For example, a study from 2010 shows growing negative attitude
toward English in Kuwait (stemming mainly from having English in the country).

Minorities are identified by their language or religion.

Be aware of the complex socio-political relationship among the Arabic speaking countries. Use whatever label the student uses when self-
identifying.

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 Although English learning may start at a young age (the equivalent of 7th grade in America) in Arabic speaking countries, the programs have
been shown to be inadequate for proper English language learning. Their skill in reading tends to be the most well developed.

Therefore, years of study does not imply complete proficiency

Works Consulted

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Hadhramout University Of Sciences And Technology. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 9(2), 29-55.

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GenitiveConstruction.htm

De Jong, K., & Zawaydeh, B. (1999). Stress, Duration, And Intonation In Arabic Word-level Prosody. Journal of Phonetics, 3-22.

The differences between English and Arabic. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2015, from http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/arabic.htm

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languoid/lect/wals_code_ams

Gomez, L. (n.d.). 5 Writing Trouble Spots for ESL Students of Arabic. Retrieved May 11, 2015, from http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/
10068-5-writing-trouble-spots-for-esl-students-of-arabic

Maddieson, I. (1984). Patterns of sounds. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press.

Malallah, S. (2000). English in an Arabic Environment: Current Attitudes to English among Kuwait University Students. International Journal of Bilingual
Education and Bilingualism, 19-43.

Packer, S. (2011). Teaching Arabic Speakers: Linguistic and Cultural Considerations, Shi... Retrieved May 11, 2015, fromhttp://fr.slideshare.net/spacke/
teaching-arabic-speakers-linguistic-and-cultural-considerations-shira-packer

Rababah, G. (2002). Communication Problems Facing Arab Learners of English. ERIC, 24-24. Retrieved May 10, 2015, from http://eric.ed.gov/?
id=ED473079

Santos, S., & Suleiman, M. (1993). Teaching English to Arabic-Speaking Students: Cultural and Linguistic Considerations. ERIC. Retrieved May 10,
2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED360876.pdf

Syed, Z. (2003). The Sociocultural Context of English Language Teaching in the Gulf. TESOL Quarterly, 337-337.

Thompson-Panos, K., & Thomas-Ruzic, M. (1983). The Least You Should Know About Arabic: Implications for the ESL Writing Instructor. TESOL
Quarterly, 17(4), 609-623.
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